The Four P’s of Luke 22:7-13 – Doing What Our Master Requires of Us Even Without Our Name In Lights

Luke 22:7-13 — This passage seems like a transitional piece to get us from the temptation of Judas to Jesus’ final passover meal, the first communion meal but there are several things that you might miss in this passage if you don’t look closely enough. I think you would have to call them the four P’s, passsover, preparation, place, and people. The bottom line to the four P’s is that we are to be humble servants of our Master. Let’s take a look at these four P’s.

PASSOVER
The first thing that I notice here is that Jesus wanted to celebrate the Passover. This reminds us that Jesus was here not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. He honored the God-designed celebrations of Jewish life. The Passover included unleavened bread to memorialize the Jews quick departure from Egypt. Lambs were sacrificed and eaten to celebrate the protection of the lamb’s blood during the final plague upon Egypt. Jesus fought against the traditions and layers of interpretations that the Jews had built up over the years to keep themselves within the bounds of the law but this, this was a God-anointed celebration. It was God who instituted Passover and Jesus was sure to have participated in it every year during his 33 years on earth. Therefore, it speaks to me that Jesus is not just a New Testament phenomenon. He is the Old Testament and the New Testament tied together. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. He is what the Old Testament points us toward. Without the Old Testament, we miss the true significance of Jesus Christ. For those who think that the Old Testament has no relevance to the post-crucifixion world, just look at this man, Jesus Christ, celebrating Passover. Without understanding Passover, you do not understand the significance of the cross. Without the sacrifice of lambs and their blood, we do not understand the significance of Jesus’ blood spilled and His sacrificial death on the cross. It is by His blood and His death that we avoid the death penalty that we deserve – eternal separation from God in hell. All of the Old Testament is practice for the game. It is preparation for the game that is played out at the cross.

PREPARATION
Speaking of preparation, you notice that Jesus sent John and Peter ahead to prepare for the meal. Peter and John had to buy and prepare the lamb, as well as the unleavened bread, herbs, wine, and other ceremonial food. Many of us just see the Passover meal that the disciples had with Jesus and forget that there had to be preparation for this ceremonial celebration. They had to find the man carrying the pitcher of water. Ordinarily in first century society, women, not men, would go the city wells and bring home the water. So this man with a water pitcher would have stood out in the crowd. And they were to follow him. Apparently, John and Peter did not know this guy but Jesus did. This man was going to give Jesus a place to hold His final passover meal with his disciples. It was there that Peter and John began the preparations. It was probably an all day thing for them. We do not see this in Scripture. It is behind the scenes. Just think of your wife and daughters spending an entire day or the day before to get ready for Thanksgiving. Just think about what your wife directs you and the boys to do in preparation for Thanksgiving. The preparation often takes longer than the meal itself. We see Peter and John working hard to make the meal a success. They were doing the behind the scenes work for the big production which is the Passover meal. It reminds us that we must do the little things in our walk with Jesus, the unnoticed things. Our daily preparation includes earnest Bible study, not just reading the Bible to say you have read a chapter. We must meditate and marinate on God’s Word. We must take what we have read and apply it to our real lives. Just reading and not thinking about what we just read is like Peter and John just throwing the meal together without a thought. They dutifully prepared the meal with painstaking care because it was for their Master. We must me willing to put in the hard work of Bible study, serving in ways that sometimes we might think are beneath us, sharing the gospel with others in ways that make us uncomfortable. Let us be faithful to our Master in doing the little things that no one sees except for our Master. We do all these things. We prepare. We pay attention to the small details because we love our Master and we want Him to smile and we don’t care whether anyone but He sees what we do. For we are here to glorify Him not ourselves or others.

PLACE
The next thing that strikes me is that Jesus chose the upper room of friend or follower. He did not choose to celebrate Passover with religious leaders surrounded by the finery of the Temple. he did not celebrate it in Herod’s palace where they could be served by many servants. He chose to have Passover in a normal everyday person’s home. The place that this final passover meal takes place reminds us that Jesus lived a life of humility. He came do His Father’s will in humility. He set aside His heavenly glory to become a man and walk among us. It reminds us that Jesus is the Emmanuel, God with us. He came to be with us. He came to be a sacrifice for us. This reminds us that Jesus is not some far off remote god that we can only approach in temples with statues made of gold. This reminds us that we are not seeking to become a part of the fabric of the universe to understand Him. We are reminded that we do not have to earn His love for us. He is seeking us. He came into the world to be with us. To be with us, everyday man and everyday woman. He does not require pomp and circumstance. He just wants to sit in our house with us. He is everyday Jesus. This place. This commonplace place is where Jesus is at. Everyday Jesus. He is not some unapproachable god. He is right there with us in our commonplace, everyday, mundane, no fanfare lives that we lead. He is Everyday Jesus.

PEOPLE
The final thing here is the people of the passover preparation and the place. Of course, we have already discussed Peter and John. Their willingness to go do what Jesus commanded them to do is a lesson for us. Sometimes we are called to do the behind the scenes work. Most of us want to be recognized for what we do or be seen doing what we do, but sometimes Jesus calls us to make things work from behind the scenes. I think of my wife when I say this. She serves the Lord in many unseen ways. Does she care that most people don’t know what all she does for our church? No, she doesn’t. It’s not a consideration. She is simply doing what God called her to do. If we are seeking fame and glory for what we do for our church, for Jesus, then we are doing it for the wrong reasons. Peter and John loved their Master so much that no small order from Him was beneath their doing. They considered it an honor to serve their Master in whatever way He chose for them. Did Peter and John complain that they would not get to hang with Jesus and the other 10 out in the public eye. No, they knew Jesus valued the Passover meal and they went about making it happen behind the scenes because of their love for their Master.

Then, there is this unnamed host for the Passover meal. The most famous Passover meal EVER and you don’t get your name in the Bible. Talk about bein’ jipped! You have Jesus Christ and the disciples in your house for this meal. This meal has been the subject of numerous paintings, sermons, movies, etc. over the centuries and you are not even mentioned by name! Wow! Other friends of Jesus are mentioned by name. Even people that are mentioned just briefly and disappear are often mentioned by name in the Bible. Even those who have done bad things get brief mentions by name in the Bible. Think Ananias and Sophia. Why no mention of this host, this host to the most important Passover meal EVER? There is a story in this lack of mention for us. I think this friend of Jesus maybe asked that his name not be mentioned. Maybe, Luke just forgot his name but the host did not care. He was just helping his friend Jesus out. We need to be like this guy. We help others not for personal glory or a mention from stage at church. We help others because we love Jesus and we want people to know Him. We do the work that God calls us to do without fanfare or expectation of getting our names in the papers. We just do what needs to be done. We just serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Did this host care that his name was not mentioned? I don’t think he did. He was just doing what he could to help the cause of Jesus. No fanfare. No mentions. Just dutiful service to the Master.

CONCLUSION
Father, may we have humble hearts like your Son. He set aside His personal glory as part of the Trinity to come to earth to do your will even to the point of an excruciatingly painful death. He humbly knew that it had to be done to solve the sin problem forever. He did what had to be done. Help us oh Lord to have the same humble heart of service as Jesus did. May we be willing to do whatever it takes to make Jesus famous regardless of our assignment in that process. May we seek to give you glory even when we are working in the background. May we do everything we do to honor you no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. Amen.